The 2018 South Roscommon Singers Festival will take place this October Bank Holiday weekend from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th in Roscommon town, Knockcroghery and Kilteevan, incorporating the Roscommon People sponsored Annie McNulty Award. The theme for this year’s festival is ‘Journeys and Genres’.
This year’s event will begin at 2 pm on Friday with a ‘Song Saunter’ at Roscommon Castle and this will be followed at 3 pm by Soapbox and Protest Songs at Gleeson’s Townhouse in Roscommon town. The official welcome to this year’s festival will take place in Murray’s Bar, Knockcroghery at 8.30 pm and this will be followed by a ‘Song Talk’ detailing Delia Murphy’s life in music. The first day of the festival will be rounded off with a ‘Harvest Singing Session’.
The festival will resume at 11 am on Saturday (27th) at Murray’s with another Song Talk, this time delivered by Thomas McCarthy on ‘Traveller Tradition’. Rhiannon Giddens will follow this with her Song Talk on ‘The African-American Influence’ at 12.30 pm. Ned’s Bar will host a singing session at 3 pm before a Concert of Gospel at St. Patrick’s Church, Knockcroghery at 8 pm. Day two will conclude with a Singing Session at Murray’s Bar at 10 pm.
Sunday
The third and final day of this year’s Singers Festival will begin with a Song Talk led by Declan Coyne at Murray’s, Knockcroghery at 12 noon. This will be followed by ‘The Groves of Kilteevan’, a visit to Annie McNulty’s birthplace, at 2 pm. The Annie McNulty Award will then be presented at Paddy Finn’s Pub in Kilteevan.
The festival will conclude at 7 pm in Murray’s Bar, Knockcroghery with a Song Talk from The Strawberry Thieves, which will be followed by the Closing Session featuring comic songs and story-telling – a rousing finale to another wonderful South Roscommon Singers Festival!
